To what extent does Sir Douglas Haig deserve the epithet `The Butcher'? Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, was heavily criticisedafter the First World War for issuing orders which led to excessive casualties of British, Frenchand German troops. Many historians feel that the epithet `The Butcher' was due to his conductof his armies on the first day of the Somme. The British and French armies combined suffered67,000 casualties on the first day, the highest in its history, and the Germans suffered 8,000.From the large number of casualties, we can see that Haig does deserve his nickname `TheButcher'. Many people believe that Haig's epithet is hugely deserved because of his managementof his forces during the whole of the war. However, one day that stands out when it comes totalking about Sir Douglas Haig, is the first day on the Somme. In terms of British casualties, thefirst day on the Somme is only exceeded by the Fall of Singapore when over 80,000 alliedsoldiers became prisoners of war. On 1st July 1916, Haig ordered the Somme offensive. Thisplan called for a massive artillery bombardment, which was to knock out all German resistancealong an eighteen mile front. Haig employed the use of 1,500 British guns backed by almost thesame amount of French artillery. The British infantry would then go into the front line trenches inorder to prepare to charge gaps in the German line. If the taking of the German lines provedsuccessful, the British would then sweep through to Cambrai and Douai, breaking the Germanline in two. However, the preliminary bombardment was hugely ineffective many shells failed toexplode, but when they did explode, they failed to cut the German wire. The relativeinexperience of the British assault troops at the beginning of the battle was also responsible forthe stalemate at the battle. On the other hand if Haig's army had pulled off the Somme offensivehe would have been hailed as a hero. The objectives of the Somme offensive were to gain territory, to draw German troopsaway from Verdun and kill as many German soldiers as possible as part of the `war of attrition'.Haig realised that the offensive would bring with it many allied causalities, however he believedthat they were fighting for a just cause and that God was on their side. Haig also had somerather old fashioned views on modern technology such as the machine gun he described it as `amuch overrated weapon' that could be captured by `grit and determination'. One weapon thatHaig did believe in was a relatively new weapon to war, the tank. `The nation must be taught to bear losses. No amount of skill on the part of the highercommanders, no training, however good, on the part of the officers and men, no superiority ofarms and ammunition, however great, will enable victories to be won without the sacrifice ofmen's lives. The nation must be prepared to see heavy casualty lists.' This was written by Haigin June 1916 before the battle began. It shows how Haig was aware of what he was getting hissoldiers into he knew of the mass numbers of casualties and that it would not be able to bestopped by anyone.

Other pages in this set

Page 2

Here's a taster:

It can also be argued that Haig was not to blame for the huge number of casualties ofthe battle. John Keegan, a historian from the First World War, writes that it was inevitable thatlarge numbers of soldiers unprotected by anything but cloth uniforms, was bound to result inheavy casualties.…read more